Saturday, February 27, 2010

So yesterday I had my gallbladder removed. I came home that evening. I'm doing fine. My stomach looks pretty beat up! It also looks huge to me. They use gas to expand the whole abdominal area. Although they say they get most of it back out I still feel huge. It hurts to use my abs to do anything.

The surgeon told Pete that my stones were so big she had to make the incision bigger just to pull them out. Nice. We asked to keep or see the stones but apparently that is against OSHA regulations. She thought there may be paperwork to fill out if we wanted to do it anyway. I said it was not worth it. The surgeon thinks it's silly- the stones do belong to me, so really I should be able to keep them. No big deal. But I do think it would have been interesting.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The family has 5 children right now and I know Joseph will fit in perfectly. I am so happy for him and for Charlie and both families who will soon be able to give the love to these cutie pies that SO deserve it.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Max's finger..... well the no bite /suck nail polish seems to not work that great after all. It should be reapplied every other day. Even if I apply it every day, Max still sucks on his finger. Even right after I put it on (and let it dry) he sucked on his finger. Not sure how anyone could keep that nasty taste in their mouth. Yuck. But I'll keep trying.

My Gallbladder.... I met with the surgeon and am scheduled to have my gallbladder removed Friday. The surgery is at 1:00. I will more than likely be staying over night. Pete can handle a night by himself with all 4 kids, right?? Everyone keeps telling me that I will feel so much better after it's removed. But I don't feel bad the way it is. It only gives me a chest pain every couple years or so. That is the only problem it gives me. The surgeon did say once it starts giving me problems then it usually will keep giving me problems and get worse. Only I have had this for years and still it doesn't seem to be more frequent anything. But I will be glad to get it removed since it does have stones in it.

My sister had a baby yesterday morning. Her 3rd boy! We plan on driving to the middle of Missouri today to go visit them. we are supposed to get hit by a big snow storm tomorrow here in the KC area, starting tonight or early morning. Watch it be nothing (fingers crossed!)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

About 3 years ago while I was 7-9 weeks pregnant with Ike I had this awful chest pain. It woke me up during the night it was so bad. I had barely gotten to sleep when it happened. I tried different positions but nothing was working. I got up and sat in one of our recliners. It just kept getting worse. It hurt to even breath. It hurt more to inhale than to exhale. Finally I decided I should go the the ER to get checked out. The pain was right under my chest bone. I kinda wondered if it was my heart.

I check in to the ER. With chest pain, the hospital immediately will take you back. They took me straight back and checked my blood pressure in both arms. It appeared to be fine. They got me a bed and did some more test. The EKG also showed normal. So hopefully it wasn't really my heart! After awhile they decided on indigestion. They gave me a concoction of Mylanta, Tylenol, and Lidocaine to slurp down. Well after the numbing medicine I did start to feel better. I had also been in there for a few hours and the pain was slowly starting to fade anyway. I left with them saying it was "indigestion due to pregnancy." I highly doubt it was due to pregnancy since I was not far along yet but whatever.

I remember having this pain before but never this bad. It always happened at night. It only happened rarely. Fast froward to a week and a half ago. We were out of town staying at my in laws house. They were gone so it was just us there. We ordered a pizza shortly before bed.

We went to bed late, like every night. Max had fallen asleep on me while we were laying on the couch. My chest hurt a little and I was pretty sure it was from the position I was laying with the weight of Max on top me. I lay down in bed and try to get some sleep. I think I did fall asleep some but was woken up by Ike coming to join me in bed. I couldn't fall back to sleep after that. Later max joined us in bed. I could not get comfy because my chest was starting to hurt even more. I changed beds. Propped myself up with pillows but nothing was helping. I then felt sick to my stomach and threw up. I went the couch with a recliner and turned on TV. I wasn't sleeping anyway by this point. I figured it was indigestion since we had a pizza before bed. I was sick a couple more times and felt like crap! Just to mention.... I never have heart burn or indigestion except when I'm pregnant then I get a burning feeling in throat. And no, I'm not pregnant!

The next morning I finally manged to get a little sleep. Maybe 2 hours. I felt better but my chest felt sore. Not really painful anymore though.

I was telling my mom about this during lunch time. She then told me she thought it was my gallbladder. She had hers removed when I was in 7th grade. She said the pain was the same. She said gallstones were a form of cholesterol. And we know my cholesterol is insanely high! Remember, I just started meds a couple weeks ago for that. Also, the weight gain and lose of pregnancy helps form gallstones as well. She had me convinced that I have gallstones within a few minutes.

I looked up gallstones and gallbladder info online and most every symptom on there sounded like me.

Next day, Monday, I go to the doctor to talk about what to do to check for gallstones. The nurse had the same stories as me and said she had gallbladder removed when she was 28 years old. The doctor seemed to be leaning towards my gallbladder as well but couldn't be sure if it was that or indigestion. He would get me set up with an ultrasound and in the meantime give me meds for indigestion. Fine, but I wasn't gonna take those horse pills. The pain only happened rarely anyway. How was I to know if the meds really helped or not?

Ultrasound was scheduled 2 days later. Yes, we were all sick that day but the chance of going to this appointment ALONE sounded pretty nice. Pete could stay home and all the kids could be there with him. I was close to canceling that appointment in the morning but then my brain started working and I kept it. How often do I go to a doctor appointment alone? Pretty much never.

Ultrasound office had the wrong orders. They thought they were going to be doing an OB sono. So I had to wait for around 30 minutes for them to get the correct orders. It took forever it felt like to have this exam done. I asked towards the end if they saw stones. Of course, I knew they would say they weren't really supposed to say. They did say that but said, yes, they see stones. Multiple stones. 2 pretty big ones and another that was not as big. They showed me this on the screen but I really have no idea what I was looking at. They pointed out the stones to me.

That same afternoon I got a call from my doctor's office. They said to see a GI doc. I called a GI doc a couple days later. After playing phone tag the lady told me I really should see a surgeon instead a GI because a GI will just refer me to a surgeon. Skipping a step sounded nice to me. I called my doctor back asking for a surgeon referral. I got a name and called them up. I am set to see them today. I'll let you what goes on. I am guessing a surgery is in my near future.

Have anyone of you had experience with gallbladder surgery? If so, please share.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Max is a nail biter and a finger sucker. He used to be a binky baby then a binky toddler. Once he was in Pre-k though (3 years old) I slowly started to take the binky away. He replaced this with his finger. Around this time he also started chewing his nails.

Max has had infected fingers before because he sucks them so much and he chews them down to nothing.

A couple weeks ago I noticed his finger is infected again. We kept it cleaned and then wrapped a band aid slathered with Neosprorin on it at night time. If he has a band aid on he thinks half his body is paralyzed so therefore he only wore it at night. I put it on after he was sleeping. Well it got worse then got better then somewhere in the middle. Finally it is starting to heal. I almost would take him to the doctor, for a pure torture treatment on us both, but then it would look better. I did get him to finally wear a band aid during the day as well.

For your enjoyment I have a couple pictures for you.Yeah, nasty, I know! But that looked better than days before.

I decided I would try the no biting nail polish. One was recommended a few month back to me. It is Mavala Stop. I read reviews but was scared to try it. Most of the reviews said it worked but it made their child throw up. Yeah, I want him to stop but wanting him to throw up? Not so sure. But now since his finger is infected I might as well try it out.

I applied to his fingernails. I also put some on mine to try it out. It does appear to work. Thankfully, no barfing was involved. I never saw him put his fingers to his mouth the whole day! Wow. The next night I did notice his finger in his mouth. The polish should be re-applied every other day. It wasn't time yet but apparently it had worn off or he got used to the nasty taste. The following day it was reapplied.

Like I said, I tried it out too. The taste is similar to earwax. It is nasty. Every time I put my finger near my mouth, I can taste it. So for people who eat with their hands I guess they get to taste this even more! Eating popcorn? yeah, your gonna taste it.

It'll be a while I'm sure before I can see if this stuff really works in the long run. But hopefully we can break Max's habit of chewing his nails and sucking his fingers to infection!

Monday, February 15, 2010

He has $6500.00 in his grant towards adoption. I just checked the Reece's Rainbow site and he has been moved the "my forever family found me" YAY for Joseph!! Not sure who yet, but hopefully they will have a blog.

For Valentines day one of the kids got some warheads in their Valentine box at school. I do wonder who would get little kids warheads, but whatever. Ike wanted the lemon Warhead.

I told him he would not like it. He insisted. So finally I gave it to him but before I did I told him if he we didn't want it to spit it in the trash. Again, I told him he would not like it as I handed it to him. He popped it in this mouth. He made an awful face! Then tried to get down from the chair. I could tell he was trying to hurry and run to the trash can. Didn't make it. He puked all over the floor!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Max was sick as his tradition for my birthday. The night of my birthday we went to dinner. Later that night I was not feeling too well. Ike and I were sitting on the couch watching TV. Apparently he also didn't feel too well because he puked all over me, himself and the couch. He did this a few times. I joined him a little later. However, I always make it to the bathroom and don't puke where ever I may be at! We go to bed.

By morning Pete and Sam were also throwing up. I didn't have the energy to get Max ready for school, even though he was feeling fine by then. So he stayed home. So on Wednesday all 6 of us were home and had been hit with the stomach bug within the last 3 days. You know what that means, right? A whole lotta laundry!! When the heck do kids figure out to run to the bathroom to throw up instead of where they lay? Seriously? It's not that hard to do!!

To make things fun.... if the bed(s) wasn't puked on it got peed on by someone. Since last Friday I have washed our bedding every single day except one! We were out of town over the weekend but it was wet Saturday morning so I started to wash it before we left and finished washing it when we returned home on Sunday. I know you are all super jealous! (BTW- there is always at least 1 kid in bed with us!)

I noticed Max's ear was full of dried, crusty blood a couple of days ago. So more drops for him. Yay- more fun.

This morning I decided I would go to the store before everyone woke up. Max was awake already but that was it. He was down playing Wii, with the door locked! I knocked a couple times but he wouldn't answer it. So I was gonna leave him here too. I get ready, go to get my phone but it was missing. I know where it was at bedtime but it was nowhere around there now. I get Pete's phone and call mine. I never hear it ring. So I listen to see if Max may answer it. Sure enough, Max picks it up... "HI"..... "Uh Max, what are you doing with my phone? .... Go unlock the door!" About a minute later he unlocks the door and stuffs my phone back into a purse he was carrying with him. He decided he wanted to go to the store with me. So just me and him went while everyone else snoozed on.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Every year on my birthday Max is sick. It seems like last year he may have gotten sick the day after, but I don't remember.... That was a year ago and I'm getting old! HA

Last night in our bed was Pete, me, Joe, Ike and Max. Yes, it gets rather cramped in our bed. Sam joined a little latter. Max was snoring up a storm the whole night. He did not start out in our bed but you knew when he entered the room! Now he generally doesn't snore anymore after having his tonsils removed. I figured he was coming down with a cold or some sinus stuff. I was awake though during one point trying to keep him covered and myself comfy. Joe, who was sleeping in the middle of the bed, sits up, looks around and then puts his head back down. About 1 second later he leans his head back up and starts puking all over his pillow and the bed. Nice. Just what you like when there are 5 people in one bed. I cleaned it up and layered towels all around him. Joe seemed fine the rest of the night.

Soon it was time for me to get up and get Max and Sam up. They both got up, got ready and seemed fine. I wrote a note in Max notebook that if he didn't act like he felt well, give me a call. I told them he snored a lot last night.

Around 10:30 the school nurse called me. Max was in her office not feeling well. She said he could barely even breath through his nose. I go to school to pick him up (after having to wake Joe up!). He laid down in the office floor once he came out of the nurses office. His para came in and was trying to say bye to him. He didn't want to say bye. fine with her. Max then starts coughing. I know the cough and what it mean. "Max are you going to throw up?" More coughing. I quickly pick him up and run him to the nurses bathroom. Just in time! He threw up in the toilet. Whew-- at least the school office didn't have to smell puke all day. I bring him home and he has laid on the couch and has been throwing up ever since. Tomorrow, my birthday, he will be home with me and out sick from school. He has made this his own tradition apparently!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Today the kids are out of school for teachers to work on grades and prepare for conferences next week.

This morning we woke up to snow. It is really pretty snow. It is huge flakes and it is coming down pretty good. It has been all morning. Sam and Ike went out and played in the snow already. Sam didn't last long before she got cold. She was sure she wouldn't get cold (I told her she would). she was wearing undies, a 3/4 sleeve sweater and her snowsuit (which is like bid overalls). Then of course socks and shoes and a pair of gloves. Ike was bundled up so he lasted much longer.

I went out and played with Ike for a little bit until I got cold too. Ike loved it. I made him snowballs that he could throw at the window. The other 3 kids were all at the window watching. Ike thought throwing snowballs at them was pretty funny!

The snow is perfect snowball/snowman snow. Hopefully this afternoon we will make it out to make some snowmen. I think we are to get around 1-3 inches of snow. I would say at the rate it is snowing we will be getting more. I would say we already have at least 2 inches right now. And like I said, it is still coming down pretty good.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Does anyone ever watch that show.... I Survived...? It is on the Bio channel (biography). I just discovered it 2 or 3 months ago. I set the DVR up to record them for me. (love DVR, BTW) The show confirms there are some truly sick, psycho people out there. Each show usually features 2 to 3 stories of how someone survived something deadly. They can be about attacks by people or animals, plane or boat crashes, falling down mountains, cliffs, falling into icy water, really anything that someone could die from.

The ones that get me are the ones about attacks from people. Some of these people are acquaintances, or ex-lovers but others are complete strangers. The stories the people tell are sickening. What must one be thinking to go attack a complete stranger and try to kill them? Almost every single one of them that I have see with Women getting attacked they also get raped.

They have featured several robberies. I think those freak me out the most. Now when I hear noises in the house I think, "what was that?" I start to freak myself out at times. I do make sure I lock the deck door at night now though! Our backyard is fenced in but you never know. We do have a dog but she is 16 years old, mostly deaf, half blind and would probably care less if someone new was in our house. More than likely, she would never hear them.

A few weeks ago I was getting a new bike for Sam off of Craigslist. This guy and me emailed back and forth and I told him when I should be there and that I would call before I was on my way. The guy called me on the phone and said that would work great, see ya tomorrow.

Max had his eye appointment that day so we did that and then planned to go pick up the bike. I called this guy but he didn't answer. I drove that way anyway since I was in the area and he knew I would be there. The side roads at this time were still pretty icy and snow covered. I had to drive on several of these streets. I hate driving on streets like that. I SO did not want to get stuck somewhere I didn't know. I get to his house and pull in the driveway, which was all snowy. There was a car there so I was going to lock the kids in the car (with it running) while I rang the doorbell. Just then a truck pulls up behind me. I tell him who I was and he said, get this... "Oh, I didn't know you were coming over" What? How could he not know I was coming over? He freaking called me the day before. I just said "you didn't?!" He was the type of guy that gets in your personal space, you know the kind of people that stand way too close to you. Well the bike was inside the house. He invited me in. I just stayed in the doorway. There was a lady there too (I'm guessing his girlfriend?) who went outside when I was standing in the doorway. Never said a word or even looked at me. The bikes he had for sale were in the basement! I told him to just bring it up to me. He did. Then he said he had several other bikes if I wanted to go down and look at them. UM, NO thank you.

The guy kinda seemed weird to me. I was starting to wonder if he was a druggie the way he acted. I dunno but I bought the bike and got out of there. I think after watching the shows I Survived... I was more nervous.

I generally don't let anyone come to the house if I am the only adult here. A few years ago, when Max was a baby, we were selling our fish tanks. Pete and I used to be big fish people. We had like 7 or so tanks set up. We sold them off one by one. I was selling my 180 gallon tank. Before I posted it in the paper (remember this was a few years ago!) I stuck some signs around the neighborhood stating what I was selling with my phone number on it.

One morning I got a call from a guy who seemed very interested. He asked questions about the tank and seemed legit. He asked where I lived. I just told him the street name, not the address. He said he lived really close. Then all of a sudden he turned psycho on me. His voice changed and he said with a deep voice, "I'm gonna come up there and I am gonna get me some!" Shocked, I played dumb and asked, "get what?" He replied, "get YOU" This went on for only a few seconds before I hung up. I was scared! I was home alone with Max. Max was only a few months old at the time.

I closed all the curtains in the house. In the living room we had a 150 gallon tank set up so if some guy was driving around and looked in our window he would figure out real fast where I lived. I called Pete who offered to come home. I told him no I would be fine. He said get the gun out just in case. I called my neighbor and told her to keep an eye out. From her house she could see my house really well. I told her to call the cops if any strange car pulled in my drive. She said she did notice a strange car driving up and down our street a few minutes earlier. We live on a cul-de-sac street with roughly 15 houses on it.

I did get the gun out of the safe and set it up on the entertainment center... just in case. Not that I would have known how to use it! Pete told me over the phone what to do but when he got home and looked at it, I don't think I even had it loaded or off safety or something crazy like that.

I called our cell phone service to see if they could give me the number of the guy that called me. His call was blocked when he called. They couldn't. I also called the police department but of course they could not do anything. I asked for a phone number or something to be able to trace his call. Nothing!

I was freaked out the whole day. But thankfully, nothing came of it. The guy was crazy, I have no doubt!

Just reminds us that there ARE crazy, sick people out there. Did you know if you yell "fire" that you will have a better chance of help than if you yell "Help?" Also, if someone gets in your car the best thing to do is crash into something. More than likely the intruder will flee. Yeah, you now have a wrecked car but you also still have your life!